Ahead of the pack

Dandified interior designer David Carter shudders at the thought that his Queen Anne residence might be considered a B&B, but 40 Winks isn't exactly a hotel either: it's an ode to poetry and playfulness in London's East End.

Overlooking a steady flow of cars on gritty Mile End Road, the elaborately, eccentrically decorated four-storey townhouse has just two bedrooms (one of them a single), a silver bathtub with a brass lion's-head tap, an honesty bar, and a kitchen masquerading as a classical temple (breakfast is modest). Yet for certain guests (Carter is particularly keen on fashion folk and artists), its magical atmosphere is likely to refresh mind, body and soul considerably more than a hotel five times the price.

As well as offering a place to lay one's head, 40 Winks puts on 'bedtime story nights', when participants lounge about in pyjamas - past performances have included Kristin Scott Thomas reading and musician Tallulah Rendall playing guitar. There's also life-drawing soirées, in which models 'enact tantalising tableaux vivants' to a soundscape by composer Daniel Pemberton; and now 'Tart', a flurry of tea and fairycakes, Champagne and cocktails, vintage styling and make-up. The hotel also hosts fashion shoots.

The latest Soho House outpost is a hit. Three 18th-century townhouses in Soho, close to the original club, have been refurbished to create 39 bedrooms (graded Tiny, Small, Medium and Bigger), a restaurant (Dining Room) and a private-dining space. The night I ate, the Dining Room was packed to the rafters with diners at Georgian-style banquettes and couples entwined at the long bar (shades of Kettner's, but of Hogarth scenes, too). The menu offers period fare: oysters, Scotch eggs, mince-and-potatoes (wonderfully rich - a far cry from school dinners), and sherry trifle.

As for the pale, chic rooms, no two are alike. Some overlook pretty Meard Street, but the quietest are at the rear; 'Small' are a better deal than 'Tiny'. Full-size Cowshed products come with either baths of monsoon showers. Every detail is chosen with care: the mirrors, the lighting, Johnstons throws, digital everything. Silvered tea and coffee tins hint at Babington House, but this is Dangerous Liaisons (not family) territory, and delightfully louche competition for the nearby Soho Hotel.

The recession may have virtually halted the flow of new Dublin hotels as the once-mighty Celtic Tiger wheezes its last, but one absolute gem has managed to defy the trend. In the upmarket suburb of Donnybrook, a half-hour stroll from the centre, the Hampton has been stunningly refashioned from six Georgian townhouses.

Its personality comes from the imaginative way that the listed building's elegant architectural features have been infused with ultra-contemporary design. The 24 large, high-ceilinged bedrooms (including three suites) all have ample light from the original windows, with bold colour schemes adding to their distinctive ambience. Other contemporary touches include 42-inch flatscreen TVs, DVD players, Wi-Fi and plasma electronic fires, while the stylish bathrooms have deep soaking tubs.

But cool doesn't mean aloof: the service is warm and friendly and a key part of the hotel's charm. The excellent bar-bistro is buzzing all day and atmospheric at night by candlelight. In summer you can eat and drink outside on the heated terrace. There's live jazz on Friday night, and a nightclub is planned.

Germany's dynamic capital has lots of luxury hotels, but most travellers don't come to Berlin to be pampered; they come to take the pulse of one of Europe's most exciting cities, and the Michelberger reflects Berlin's chaotic lust for life.

Housed in an old factory on the eastern side of town, this edgy rendezvous is the brainchild of Tom Michelberger, a well-travelled 31-year-old who's done everything from producing video games to teaching rafting in the USA. His new hotel is international in flavour, with youthful staff from several continents, and a sociable atmosphere in the laidback lounge and bar. Rooms are purposefully spartan, with plain, functional furniture, but the high ceilings and huge windows let in lots of light, and the public spaces are pleasantly cluttered, with books and magazines to browse through.

The location is lively, too, in the city's hip Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough (U-Bahn and S-Bahn stations are across the road, for those who fancy heading somewhere smarter). If it's five-star mod cons you're after you might want to look elsewhere, but this is the ideal base from which to sample Berlin's legendary counter-culture, in a place that's the epitome of industrial chic.

The lack of a pool at this very tasteful, welcoming rustic-chic country retreat north of Montepulciano is the smart guest's gain. It ensures an air of cultured calm, and also keeps prices down to levels that seem like a giveaway in one of Italy's most sought-after regions.

Standing in an undulating landscape of vineyards and sheep pastures, the centuries-old farmhouse has been rescued from neglect without the cementification that plagues so many Tuscan farmhouse 'restorations'. In the four suites and downstairs communal spaces, salvaged materials (such as weathered scaffolding boards and old doors) play off against retro Italian-design pieces. And the hosts, Fabio Firli and Suzanne Simons, are charming and helpful. Breakfast is a sumptuous spread of local and homemade organic products, and there are little extras such as free broadband access. For the best views, ask for the Blu Notte Suite, which has its own balcony overlooking the Renaissance church of San Biagio and the turreted outline of nearby Montefollonico.

The clue's in the name: the dominant theme in this hotel is the colour red: full-blooded, Paloma Picasso lipstick-red. The location is great: newly pristine Piazza Santa Maria Novella lies between the train station and via Tornabuoni with the buzzy Oltrarno district just across the river.

The hotel occupies a tall, narrow, 18th-century palazzo, and while the interior has been given a contemporary makeover, the original architectural details (sgraffito façade, grand staircase, pretty internal courtyard, vaulted ceilings and the odd fresco) are intact, so the overall impression is of staying in a neo-Renaissance palazzo.

Red is everywhere, offset by grey and white, a smart colour scheme that gives the place an edge. Public spaces feature hardwood floors, silk curtains, big velvet sofas and Moroccan lamps while the soft-grey, good-sized bedrooms have quirky red detailing: cuckoo clocks, cushions, a gerbera in a vase. Shame about the banal blue bathrooms. The best rooms overlook the square and the glorious façade of the church; low-season rates for these are just €100. Compared to other hotel rooms sharing the view, that's a snip.

This is a beguiling new rural mini-resort set against a backdrop of the wild Madonie mountains. Owner Massimo Belli dell'Isca, a former director of the Madonie National Park, has turned an entire street in the semi-abandoned village of Gratteri into a 15-room retreat, which is part of the fabric of the community yet distinctly separate.

Rooms are done out in strong Mediterranean hues - plums, lilacs and ochres - and the glittery bathroom mosaic tiles were made by local artisans. Huge photographic prints of centuries-old Madonie trees dominate the breakfast room. The small heated pool in the theatrically lit garden is the focal point of hotel life: meals are served beside it on all but the coldest days, and it's well worth taking advantage of chef Beppe Fontana's creative Sicilian cuisine, especially at €20 for a light lunch and €32 for a full-scale gourmet meal. The small spa specialises in Tibetan massage.

Belli Spa: book through the Thinking Traveller (020 7377 8518; www.thinksicily.com). Doubles from €128 (minimum stay three nights, or five nights in August)

From the outside, there's not much to distinguish 2 via del Sole from the other houses on this traditional old street, where the local baker rubs shoulders with hardware stores and hole-in-the-wall trattorie. It's only a few steps away from the shopping mecca of via Tornabuoni, yet the area retains an air of Old Florence, and that's just what owners Francesca Pecci and Giacomo Fantini were after for their second B&B in the city.

Inside the second-floor, four-bedroom apartment, the design is led by the giant black-and-white photos of Florence that hang on the walls, putting traditional elements of an old Florentine building into a contemporary context. The result is a cosy, super-stylish haven of black and white and shades of grey. For furniture, Pecci and Fantini scoured flea markets and raided family vaults, painted and re-upholstered, and added original design pieces to the mix.

The bedrooms vary in size and price. The smallest, number six, is a bit cramped, but spacious number eight has room for an extra bed. All have LCD TVs and slick bathrooms hidden behind smoked-glass sliding doors, and there's free Wi-Fi throughout. Breakfast is served at a long table in the kitchen where guests can also help themselves to hot drinks and snacks throughout the day.

Converted hotels sometimes struggle to shake off their previous lives. A sense of corporate dullness can haunt a former office building long after the photocopiers have been wheeled away. Fortunately the Story, which opened in March 2010, used to be an apartment building and so underneath its fiercely trendy new look it retains a cosy, homely charm.

Nicely proportioned rooms mix new and vintage furnishings, and have walls decorated with scraps of old-fashioned wallpaper and paint splodges. The original apartment doors, some marked 'Ingen reklam' ('No junk mail'), have been re-used as headboards for the beds. Some of the 82 rooms are tiny and some are noisy, but the hotel is upfront about these drawbacks, referring to the former as 'Super Squeeze' rooms and providing earplugs for the latter.

The hotel's own bar and restaurant are hopping, but it's also close to Stureplan, the nexus of Stockholm nightlife, next door to one of the city's most popular restaurants, and just off the poshest shopping street in the city.

Hostal Salinas (a popular haunt in the 1970s that fell into disrepair) was given an overhaul last year, giving Las Salinas, the island's grooviest party-beach, the kind of boutique accommodation it deserves.

The traditional beachfront villa occupies a cove at the south-westernmost point of the island where the buzz turns to bass as the sun sets. Chill-out session on the twinkling terrace attract a boho crowd and off-duty DJs, who sip Apple Martinis here before going on to parties elsewhere. With 11 simply decorated, light and surprisingly peaceful rooms, each with a terrace, satellite TV and contemporary bathroom, it's easy to escape if you want to; but let's face it, Ibiza is no place for solitary types: better rub shoulders with regulars, and score a house-party invitation.

The restaurant is open for lunch, dinner and weekend barbecues, serving unfussy Mediterranean fare such as whole baked fish, seafood suquet (stew) and paella. In high season, bagging a room here is tricker than getting into the VIP room at Pacha, so join the waiting list now.

Since Enrique Sarasola opened his first Room Mate hotel in 2001, the brand has trailblazed its way across the world, with properties now as far flung as New York and Buenos Aires. Each is meant to reflect the life of a fictional personality, and is based on the premise that people don't go to cities to spend time in a hotel room. So you'll find 'Emma' in the heart of the hedonistic Eixample district, a hop, skip and a flutter from the best shops, bars and restaurants of uptown Barcelona.

Tomás Alía's futuristic design is a fantastical world of soft curves, blues, purples and psychedelic swirls that immediately put you in a good mood. Cocoon-like rooms are on the small side, but the space-age fixtures and fittings and glowing walls give it an edge that Stanley Kubrick would be proud of. All have crisp linen, big beds, a power shower and free Wi-Fi, but if you plan to hang around, treat yourself to the keenly priced penthouse with its own terrace and a two-person outdoor tub.

Downstairs, there's a breakfast room showered in pink glitter tiles, where warm bread and pastries, fresh fruit and yogurt, charcuterie and cheese are served until noon. Plans are afoot to lure night owls with cocktails and cava at sundown.

Casa La Siesta is the result of a love story between a young British couple who met at a language school, bought a farmhouse, and turned it into one of the most appealing boutique hotels in Andalucía.

It looks like an authentic period building, but Lee and Amelia Thornley created much of it from scratch, piecing together reclaimed tiles, beams, doors and shutters, and adding rustic-chic furnishings, rolltop baths and monsoon showers. The result is a beautifully judged mix of haçienda and contemporary style, with seven en-suite doubles overlooking a kitchen garden and courtyard planted with olive trees, lavender and rosemary.

The Moorish town of Vejer de la Frontera is close by, as are opportunities for horseriding, surfing and kitesurfing. But it's a safe guess that, lulled by the heat, the stillness of the landscape, the harmony of the design and the tastiness of the food (Amelia used to run a catering business in west London), many guests will turn their stay whole stay here into something of a siesta, lingering over their pan de tomate breakfast, drifting about in the little pool and sipping wine from the bijou bodega in the enchantingly lit outdoor bar area.

The hotel's website announces obligatory online booking, prices tiered by flexibility-option, rooms you can pre-configure and two-minute computer self-check-in when you arrive. Food in the Canteen is pre-packaged, the ambience of your room controlled by a MoodPad. Maybe you should just send your avatar. But CitizenM Amsterdam City, in a smart southern suburb of Amsterdam, is far from soulless. Ingeniously conceived and edgy with new design, it is an upmarket version of a capsule hotel, with more space, classier fittings and a hipper atmosphere.

The stylistic range of tables and chairs in the lobby-lounge makes it look a little like a design showroom (not many places to flop, unless you nab one of those Eames chairs). In the bedrooms, king-size beds with top-quality linen make for supreme comfort - although the solitary three-hanger clothes rack struggles to accommodate even weekend-break gear. The open-plan bathroom (go with a good friend) is intelligently laid out, with convenient shelf- space. In CanteenM, ready-made sushi, sandwiches, and small microwaveable meals are available 24/7 at normal, high-street prices, and there's a chatty buzz at the bar.

Citizen M is just five minutes by tram from the main museums (via a chic shopping district), and another three to the city centre.

There are plenty of luxury hotels in Monaco, but youth appeal has never been one of Monte Carlo's strong suits. Enter the 17-room Ni Hôtel, discreetly positioned in the low-profile residential district of La Condamine, just steps away from the outdoor market.

Don't be fooled by the creamy, classical façade; inside, the mood is playful and provocative, starting in the lobby, ablaze with curvy red sofas, walls of silver discs, original cartoon-meets-graffiti canvases by Robert Combas and Hervé Di Rosa, and a glass-fronted lift adorned with huge images of lascivious, tattooed pin-up girls.

The asymmetrical rooms (ask for a sea view) are small but comfortable, decorated in a restful mix of grey and white, with sleek bathrooms stocked with Ni's signature fig-scented toiletries. Added to this is a hi-tech fitness room, a dazzling Pop Art-inspired bar (where breakfast is served), and a roof-terrace lounge with great harbour views. There are two spacious duplex suites, each sleeping four, with a fully equipped kitchen, sitting room with a sofa bed and coloured Perspex stairs leading to a master bedroom, walk-in closet and bathroom.

The term 'eco hotel' is much bandied about, yet sometimes doesn't go a lot further than asking you to reuse your towel. But La Grée des Landes, a resolutely modern, beautifully integrated hotel-spa-restaurant complex in the Breton countryside, is committed to environmental concerns. Wild flowers flourish in the unkempt meadow, reeds filter the water system, nesting boxes have been concealed in the façade, and ancient varieties of apple and pear trees surround the car park. Half-buried in the hillside, the timber exterior of the hotel has been left rough and natural. The 29 bedrooms each have sliding glass doors that open onto a private terrace shaded by a planted roof.

Owner Jacques Rocher (his father founded the skincare group Yves Rocher) has decorated the hotel with his own collection of photographs and, in the restaurant, chef Gilles le Gallès produces inventive cuisine using local organic produce. There is a spa and a small but perfectly formed indoor pool from where, amid changing coloured lights, you can gaze out over the landscape.

The receptionist sometimes doubles as barmaid, and you will have to carry your own luggage but the atmosphere is wonderfully relaxed. And there are 10 hectares of grounds to explore with bikes and umbrellas (this is Brittany, after all).

Wedged between Monaco and Menton, the sleepy, palm-lined village of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin - once home to Le Corbusier, Coco Chanel and modernist architect and furniture designer Eileen Gray - has somehow managed to retain a genuinely laid-back retro charm.

The 32 room Hotel Victoria, on the coastal road across from a lovely pebbly beach, is now under new ownership and has been stylishly spruced up. The interior designer Jean-Philippe Nuel (who did Hôtel La Villa, Paris, and Le Grand Balcon, Toulouse) has looked to the sea and sky for inspiration in the lobby, with striking cobalt-blue walls lined with original Le Corbusier lithographs, his white LC2 chairs and an LC4 sofa.

Upstairs, the newly revamped sea view rooms (from €99) are the height of no-fuss functional chic, decked out in intense blue and dazzling white with blond-wood parquet floors, flatscreen TVs, and navy-blue-tiled bathrooms. The biggest draw for the price is a private terrace with vistas of the Mediterranean. After the generous breakfast, take a stroll down the coastal footpath that winds around the peninsula and check out Gray's Modernist Villa E1027 and Le Corbusier's tiny beach hut.

The colonnaded façade of Villa Cahuzac makes it look more like a plantation house in the US Deep South than a country house in deepest south-west France. In fact, the neocolonial villa was built by Dr Aimé Mouchet in the early 20th century. Recently restored and transformed into an 11-bedroom boutique hotel by Pierre Dubarry (of the foie-gras empire Ducs de Gascogne), it has original tiled floors and a library lined with antiquarian books.

Dubarry has managed to retain the feel of a private home while injecting a dose of neo-baroque fun (zebra striped chairs downstairs; giant photographic details of sculpture and architecture above the beds). The 11 bedrooms are spacious and comfortable, with grey, wood-panelled walls, commissioned furniture by Philippe Delzers and black-and-white bathrooms. The walled garden with its fish pond, fountains and Dr Mouchet's antique statuary, is ideal for relaxing in an armchair.

Breakfast, taken around a big old table, is a help-yourself feast of crusty bread, jams and finely sliced Pyrenean ham and cheese; the chandelier-lit restaurant (open for dinner) offers a modern treatment of regional ingredients. There is also the option of cookery courses.

Set on a hill above St Tropez, the three-storey Hôtel Ermitage is just steps from the landmark Hotel Byblos. It is the latest venture from entrepreneur and graffiti artist André Saraiva, whose playful revamp of this long-abandoned building exudes the ramshackle charm of St Tropez in the 1950s, pre-Bardot.

Like its ultra-hip Parisian cousin, Hôtel Amour, the Ermitage is all about sexy, low-tech glamour, with suggestive portraits by Terry Richardson and Irina Ionesco in the black-walled corridors. It is furnished with a jumble of vintage relics, hand-picked by Saraiva himself; and there are no TVs or phones in the bedrooms. Conceived as a hangout for Saraiva's coterie of famous pals (Kate Moss, Lily Allen, Lou Doillon, Snoop Dogg), the hotel attracts a young, creative crowd who would rather kick back on the terrace (with a spectacular view of the bay) than go clubbing.

Each of the 27 rooms is different: some have sea views, some are decorated by André's friends; the latter range from a purple-walled fantasy and a celebrity-portrait showcase by photographer Jean Pigozzi to the 'library' room, lined with cool paperbacks. Bathrooms vary too, from tiny to spacious, with clawfooted baths, retro ceramic tiles and Kiehl's products. The bistro serves simple Provençal dishes overseen by Michel del Burgo. A 1950s Bentley is used as a beach shuttle.

Parisians aren't shy about asking you where you're staying. Tell them 'Le Gabriel' and they'll raise an eyebrow and coo: 'What's it actually like?' Since opening in 2009, this spa hotel has made headlines with its cutting-edge detox technology for treating guests strung out from 'stress, bad eating habits, alcohol, cigarettes or lack of sleep'.

Guests are welcomed by Julien Bouston, the effervescent maître d'hôtel. Then it's a glass lift up to one of the 41 rooms, most of which have two techie trinkets: acrylic resin walls, studded with glowing LED-style figures, and NightCove sleep-inducing machines, designed by the head of Paris's Sleep and Wakefulness Centre. The latter sends out waves of melatonin-producing light and sound, soothing the senses with an ambient son et lumière performance. Does it work? I left feeling refreshed, but that may have been the Korres lotions I tipped into the freestanding bath, the Bioo elixirs in the spa, or the Kusmi Tea at the all-organic breakfast. The in-room fruit bowl, iPod dock and swing-arm plasma-screen TV and DVD player also helped.

Though the hotel claims it is in the Marais, it is actually - thankfully - in Oberkampf, a vibrant district of noodle bars and buzzing bistros that makes the Marais look old hat.

Biarritz has always been good at reinventing itself, from Basque whaling village to imperial residence, Art Deco elegance to surf capital. Now, happily, it is adding modern to the mix, in an up-and-coming neighbourhood near the stunning new public library. Dominique and Christophe Lévy bought sad old Hôtel Le Christina and transformed it into the Oxo, investing it with clean lines, light and a sense of fun. (The name is nothing to do with stock cubes; it is inspired by the oxygen of the Atlantic and the Pyrenees, and the many Xs in the Basque language.)

Downstairs is bright and open-plan, and the 20 bedrooms are contemporary and comfortable rather than luxurious. Philippe Starck's cult Louis Ghost chairs have been mixed with Ikea bedside lamps, white beds have colourful cushions and throws are offset with wallpaper that ranges from gently baroque to loudly graphic, and calm beige to dramatic black and silver (Room 204). Rooms 101 and 102 each have a balcony with table and chairs. Bathrooms are small but practical with a decent shower. There's no lift or air-con (some rooms have ceiling fans); still, unlike many seaside hotels, Oxo keeps its prices low even in July and August, and the sweeping Grande Plage is just five minutes' walk away. This is a place you will want to return to, if only to try out a different wallpaper.